This is an improvement on my invention entitled "Combination Sterile Pad Support and Lancet", U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,633, which issued on Jan. 13, 1987.
Finger-stick blood sampling is practiced for a variety of purposes including use by diabetics who must test themselves for stat glucose levels up to four times a day in order to determine whether or not they should self-administer insulin, as well as for many different types of diagnostic tests which are conducted in physicians ' offices or in hospitals, as well as finger-stick cholesterol blood screenings at such places as shopping malls, drug and grocery stores.
Applicant's invention as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,633 is ideally suited for this purpose since the antiseptic pad and the lancet are contained in a single cheap disposable combination unit with the pad being used to disinfect the end of the finger and the lancet being used to stick the finger to draw blood. The pad may also be held on the stick site firmly thus aiding the blood clotting time after the drop of blood has been removed.
Today, because of various high-risk, life-threatening diseases that are prevalent throughout the world, extreme caution must be taken to protect the end user as well as others who may come in contact with disposable lancet needles.
At the present time there are two methods used in disposing of lancets of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,633. The first method is to use the round protective cap which was originally removed from the lancet and had been molded as part of the original lancet and attempt to insert the contaminated needle back into this plastic piece. This is very difficult to do because the round plastic part is small, the hole in it is even smaller, and the needle can slip away into the person who is attempting to accomplish this, who might very well be someone other than the person into whose finger the needle had been inserted. The other method in use is to discard the contaminated needle after use in some large container or trash receptacle with no protective cover on the needle. This is extremely dangerous because if the primary user does not immediately discard the lancet it becomes exposed to others who may not know of its status. Even if the lancet is disposed of in a general purpose trash container it exposes potential nonusers to the lancet sharp end with the attendant risks associated therewith if the lancet sharp end had been inserted into someone having a contagious life-threatening disease.
Furthermore, there is legislation pending in some jurisdictions to require that the lancet point be fully protected upon disposal in the case of certain institutional uses.